July in Norway :). That time when people disappear and the best weather appears :D. Except this year. Because a lot of people are staycationing or travelling not very far, and it feels like it's just been raining the whole time. Still! There was the occasional highlight!
The biggest highlight of the month for me was the amazing cycling weekend we spent in the Grimsdal valley. Tucked away between the Dovre and Rondane national parks, it's a fantastic piece of Norwegian landscape. Wide valleys, high plateaus, mountains with snow in the middle of summer, rivers - sometimes rushing down rapids, sometimes gurgling past grazing cattle...
Early on Saturday morning, we took the train up to Hjerkinn with our bikes, a good five hour or so ride. As we were sorting ourselves out after being dropped off at the little train station, we realised that it was a very good thing we'd packed the right clothes for cold cold wind :). That aside, the weather was fantastic the whole day! Enough sunshine to keep us happy, enough clouds to keep things interesting :D.
By late afternoon we had made our way to our overnight stop at Grimsdalshytta. A cabin maintained by the DNT since 1923! And in good Norwegian tradition, serving a full 3 course dinner with amazing food in the midst of the most amazing views :). We were too tired to do much, but a little walk up the closest hillside helped loosen up the legs a bit!
The Sunday was even more spectacular as that was when we climbed to the top of the plateau before plunging back down into Gudbransdalen. There was also some rain, and a lot of wind! But the views from the top were definitely worth it! Given the number of mountains ranged around us, it wasn't that top of the world feeling, but the sense of awe is hard to describe. In this case, the photos don't do the place justice :).
The rain was starting to get somewhat serious by the time we were cycling into Dombås. But with hours to go before our train back, we enjoyed a very relaxed lunch at a restaurant popular with people driving through. Then it was another five hours on the train back home :).
The trip was also made memorable thanks to a group on electric bikes who we had been repeatedly passing, and being passed by, for the better part of the weekend! I was grateful for the kind comments from several of the group as they overtook us :). And really happy that on both days we reached our destinations not far behind them :D.
There have been other cycling trips when the weather has allowed. And a very interesting visit to the Kistefos Museum. I think I enjoyed the buildings more than a fair bit of the art. Especially liked exploring the old paper mill with a lot of it pretty well preserved!
One of the somewhat sad things about July in Norway is that by the end of the month you really notice that the light's fading quite rapidly in the evenings. It's all relative of course, and 10 pm is still a very good time for sunset :). I guess it makes it all the more important to appreciate the nice sunny days!
